TOP DARWIN TRAINER INJURED AT FANNIE BAY
HE’S Our Woody continued his remarkable form line at the Darwin Turf Club, but his courageous win in the $20,500 Asian United Food Service BM76 Handicap was overshadowed by a horrible injury to a popular trainer yesterday.
The thoughts of racing fans and officials at Fannie Bay were with Kerry Petrick ( pictured) – she suffered an awful fall after her five-year-old Shuumatsu bucked and sent her crashing to the ground.
Petrick’s head hit the cement footpath behind the grand- stand in the tieup stalls, while she was preparing the gelding and she badly injured her left arm. Shuumatsu was scratched from race three, which was delayed while the much-loved trainer also nursed a head wound and waited for paramedics to arrive.
Connections of the Petrick stable said Shuumatsu was previously a difficult horse to handle, with question marks now emerging over his future after one win from 13 starts.
Just before things were temporarily put on hold at Fannie Bay after Petrick’s injury, David Bates was thrilled with He’s Our Woody’s win in the race-two feature.
The gutsy five-year-old never gave up on the home straight, despite dropping back to second from the number-three barrier late in the 1200m sprint.
“I told Shiersy (jockey Paul Shiers) he can lead, he can sit, he can do hard yards, he can do anything,” Bates said.
“Every race he’s ever been in – particularly down south – he’s always fought on.”
The up-and-coming sprinter has now finished on the podium from his 10 career starts, including a third in the $137,250 Palmerston Sprint on August 5.
“He’s a quality carnival horse and that run is what you expect from those types of horses,” Bates said.
“He started at the bottom but ended up at the top and wasn’t far off winning our feature sprint.
“The horse has got a big future ahead of him.”
Four-year-old gelding Reconnect was Bates’ other winner on the day, with Shiers also in the saddle in the $17,500 race one Betfair Exchange TROBIS Class 2 Handicap (1600m).
“It was a good win in a lowclass race,” Bates said.
“We’ve got to now make a decision on whether he’s good enough to go much further.
“If you place both these horses in the right races, you can get the results.”
Phil Cole’s Mighty Tax ( jockey Vanessa Arnott), Neil Dyer’s Montana Air ( Jason Lyon) and Mark Nyhan’s Gamora (Wayne Davis) were the other winning horses yesterday.